Tuesday, 19 June 2012

Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest - 1971

Sweden did not compete in the Eurovision Song Contest 1970, as a protest against the fact that four countries shared the victory in 1969. They were, however, back for the 1971 contest. Five semi-finals, with the same three competitors in all of them, were held in the popular TV show Hylands hörna. All of the semi-finals were held in Stockholm, hosted by Lennart Hyland, the finalists were chosen by the public. The group Family Four won all of the semi-finals, and therefore sung all the songs in the final. The Swedish Final was held on February 27th in Stockholm, hosted by Lennart Hyland. The winning song was chosen by an "expert" jury. The song Vita vidder, written and composed by Håkan Elmquist, won and represented Sweden at ESC, held in Dublin.

At the ESC in Dublin Family Four finished 6th out of 18, scoring high points from Switzerland and the Netherlands.

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Family Four were a Swedish pop group who recorded during the 1960s and 1970s. They were made up of Berdnt Öst, Marie Bergman, Agnetha Munther and Pierre Isacsson. They won Melodifestivalen twice, in 1971 with Vita vidder and in 1972 with Härliga sommardag. They went on to represent Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest on these two occasions. They finished sixth in 1971 and 13th in 1972.

Both Marie Bergman and Pierre Isacsson went on to successful solo careers.